A far off island in the Caribbean , for one its pleasure. For the other it 's certain death. Welcome to ship trap island. The title of the story is The most Dangerous game by Richard Connell. Rainsford demonstrates that he is Alert, Intelligent, and Talented by fighting for his life against the General.
Character Essay “I’ll agree to do nothing of the kind,” is Rainsford’s response when he is asked not to speak of the island where a man goes for his favorite hobby; murder (Connell 37). Rainsford is just a poor sailor who swam onto Ship Trap Island to escape the frigid waters that he accidentally fell into. He meets General Zaroff and learns about his personality and actions. Shortly after that, Rainsford soon realizes he needs to get off of the island as soon as he can.
“He shrugged his shoulders. Then he sat down, took a drink of brandy from a silver flask, lit a cigarette, and hummed a bit from Madame Butterfly,” (14). The mood of this scene is relief because General Zaroff thought that the big hunt was over so he had went home got really comfortable, had got him some wine, and a big dinner. But little did he know what truly happened to Rainsford. So this shows that General Zaroff had a chance of winning the big hunt.
The Most Dangerous Game In the short story, “The Most Dangerous Game” by Richard Connell, the protagonist, Sanger Rainsford, and the antagonist, General Zaroff, are similar characters. Both Rainsford and Zaroff share common passions, skills and ideology. Initially, there is admiration between both characters, because Rainsford is Zaroff’s hero and Rainsford is grateful for Zaroff being welcome to him. However.
Adversity Leads to Maturation “Maturity is achieved when a person postpones immediate pleasures for long-term values.” This quote from Joshua L. Liebman outlines the deeper theme in The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain. In the novel, the main character Huckleberry Finn, matures through adversity. Huck encounters immoral situations on the shore of the Mississippi River. The deformed conscience of the people on land force Huck to question his moral compass and overcome the stupid conformity of society.
Reader Response of “On the Rainy River” The short story “On the Rainy River” by Tim O 'Brien explains to the audience that all men are influenced to go into war, and that they should hide the fears and emotions that they may have along the journey. Throughout the short story the author explains his journey and opens up about his emotions when he was sent to war. Being the audience of this short story explains to you what every man must go through if they were to be sent to war.
How does a person’s response to and perspective of a crisis define him or her? In the event of a crisis, a person’s response and perspective of it can define him or her. In the novel, The Book Thief, written by Markus Zusak, and the short story, “On the Rainy River”, written by Tim O’Brien, the characters experience crisis all around them. Hans Hubermann in The Book Thief and Tim O’Brien in “On the Rainy River” have a hard time staying true to themselves in moments of crisis.
In the short story, “On the Rainy River” by Tim O’Brien, the author develops the idea that when an individual experiences a feeling of shame and humiliation, they often tend to neglect their desires and convictions to impress society. Tim, the narrator, starts off by describing his feeling of embarrassment, “I’ve had to live with it, feeling the shame”, before even elaborating on the cause of the feeling. Near the end of the story, he admits he does not run off and escape to Canada because it had nothing to do with his, “mortality...Embarrassment, that’s all it was”. The narrator experiences this feeling of intense shame and then he decides that he will be “a coward” and go to war. His personal desire is that he wishes to live a normal life and could never imagine himself charging at an enemy position nor ever taking aim at another human being.
Also, General Zaroff is an extreme hunter and doesn’t find pleasure in hunting regular animals. Zaroff says the most dangerous game is humans because they have the ability to reason. Rainsford is going to be hunted and is given a certain amount of time to survive. Moreover, while Rainsford is being hunted Zaroff
General Zaroff is an amazing hunter, “[has] hunted every kind of game in every land” (). Since he has hunted every animal and was smarter than every animal, there was nothing left for him to hunt. General Zaroff had been hunting since he was a child, and he thought all animals were too easy, except one. “‘It must have courage, cunning, and, above all, it must be able to reason’” (). By this, he means humans.
During the story, Zaroff is also crazy. He shows that he is crazy when he is talking to Rainsford about how hunting humans is perfectly fine. “‘Oh,’’ said the general, “it supplies me with the most exciting hunting in the world’’ (Connell 72). Zaroff shows that he is crazy during this scene because he is literally trying to explain why there is nothing wrong with killing humans. Lastly, Zaroff is also overconfident in the story.
When Zaroff mentions the fact of a sailor losing his head during the hunt, Rainsford wants to leave immediately but has no choice; he has to stay. Rainsford doesn’t feel like he can trust the General and doesn’t want to agree to take part in the hunting. Rainsford believes that Zaroff can’t be trusted, “Oh, you can trust me, said the Cossack. I will give you my word as a gentleman and a sportsman. Of course you, in turn, must agree to say nothing of your visit here.
However, he is now ready to fight to the death, which shows that his opinion has changed. That just makes him no better than Zaroff “the murderer”. It seems as if Zaroff has passed on his role to Rainsford and he is now the new Zaroff. How else can he sleep so well if he feels remorse over killing a fellow human? Zaroff told him he could leave the island if he won but he stays.
In the beginning of the story Rainsford is talking to Whitney on the yacht about hunting. “You’re a big-game hunter, not a philosopher… who cares.(215) This shows arrogance by showing Rainsford brag about how being a hunter is the top of the “Food chain”. When Rainsford arrives to the castle,Zaroff brags about being a skilled hunter. ”No
The short story “On the Rainy River”, by Tim O’Brien is an exploration of how guilt and the pressures of society can shape one’s decision making. O’Brien feels guilty about going to war in Vietnam which contradicts his principles and his dream of becoming a writer. In the story, O’Brien admits, “I was a coward, I went to war” (O’Brien 80); he feared how the people of his community, and the rest of society would view him if he ran away. He feared the external embarrassment he would face if he dodged his draft notice instead of serving in the war; the fear of being judged by society was too unbearable for him to face. During O’Brien’s encounter with Elroy Berdahl, he is influenced to adhere to a decision, however, he chose to conform to the expectations of society.
